Dear Faith Family,
"brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God… present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship [rational service]." (Romans 12:1)
Work, contends Dorothy Sayers, is not simply the labor we get paid to do, and so something we do to live. Rather, work is "a way of life in which the nature of humanity should find its proper exercise and delight and so fulfill itself to the glory of God."
What if one reason we struggle with "work," desiring to get out of it (or using it only to get out of it some thing we desire), is that our understanding of what "work" is, is, well, off? What if a part of our contentious relationship with work is that we are not thinking of work correctly, Biblically? What if, as we have suggested, work is not primarily what you get paid for, but everything you do in word or deed to make a life, good? Work, indeed, is what we are made for in Christ.
"…we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us in Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing." (Ephesians 2:9-10, MSG)
But is renewal of the mind enough? Is thinking about work rightly, going to change what we get out of work? It is certainly a start, but as our experiences in life and our scriptures testify, for work to be a "delight," and not drudgery, we have to give something more than just our minds to it.
As we discussed on Sunday, to get out of work, the joy of its essential goodness, we have to "serve the work," as "the medium in which one offers oneself to God." We, in the words of Paul, are to submit our wills through our work, "offering our bodies as a living sacrifice" through our work.
What we see in our scriptures, and in the life of Jesus especially, is that we do NOT offer our work to God. We submit our wills to God through our work. Work is a medium of offering, not the offering itself. Read that last sentence again, slowly.
What we are saying is that I don't offer my work to the Lord today, but I offer myself, my whole self, through the work gifted and crafted specifically for me. I give myself to the work, for this specific life I live in Christ is God's will, God's good, prepared for me in Christ to get in on so that my "joy may be full" (Jn. 15:11).
Perhaps one reason we try to get out of work is that we are not willing to "serve the work." Rather than delight, work is drudgery or just a means to something that won't last. So, how do we begin to change what we are getting out of work? Here is how I encourage you to join me in getting to work this week.
1. (Re)Listen to Sunday's Sermon.
2. Consider: What would be different if I "served the work" tomorrow?
3. Attend: Where have I experienced the goodness of someone "serving the work"?
May we find the joy in our serving that which has been crafted and gifted for us to do.
Love you, faith family. God bless.